It was two and a half years ago that a group of instrumentalists assembled to back New York hip-hop artist Breeze Evahflowin during a show at The Stone Church in Newmarket. The band that was born that night in 2005 has since toured with hip-hop legend Slick Rick and opened for The Roots, Robert Randolph and George Clinton.

But The Press Project, as the band has come to be called, is as comfortable headlining shows as it is opening for nationally recognized acts. The group’s growing popularity reflects the region’s healthy appetite for a genre that was once largely missing from the Seacoast music scene. Audiences spawning from multiple generations have responded enthusiastically to The Press Project’s blend of hip-hop, jazz, funk and soul, and the band has developed a modest following in the Portsmouth-Durham-Dover area.

With the release of its first full-length album, “Get Right,” The Press Project has cemented its presence on the Seacoast. The group will officially release the CD on Friday, Sept. 28, at The Redhook Brewery, offering guests a taste of the seven-piece band’s soulful sound and rapid rhymes. It took 10 months and hundreds of hours to complete the CD, and creative differences threatened to divide the band members, but they hope fans will agree that the recording was worth the effort.

“When you have seven members, you have seven different minds, seven different directions,” said MC Brian Capobianchi, better known as “Cap.” “Sometimes, different members feel like things aren’t progressing as fast as you would want them too. Overcoming it, I think, is something that came from the music and came from the belief in the music. I don’t think overcoming it was due to any one person. It was more the fact that we all kind of understand why we’re doing this, and we all feel it’s very important.”

Capobianchi, who lives in Braintree, Mass., began rapping while he was in college at the University of New Hampshire. He had been writing songs and playing acoustic music since his mid-teens, but never seriously considered rapping until a friend suggested he give it a try. That friend was Patrick Joyce, also known as “The Face of Fate,” another Press Project MC.

Joyce, Capobianchi and Alex Beguin (aka Journalist) began improvising rhymes together, feeding off of each other in live settings for several years. Meanwhile, bassist Roland Nicole was looking for MCs to sit in with his instrumental jazz-funk band.
“I got the call from Roland, saying he wanted to do some hip-hop with me and Pat, and then we all got together in one room and decided, ‘Shit, this is awesome,’” Capobianchi said.

The band, originally called The Press, began gigging at places like Scorpions Bar & Grill in Durham and the Dover Brick House. Various members came and went for a while, but the band was eventually rounded out with Joyce, Capobianchi and Beguin on vocals, Nicole on bass, Jim Dozet on guitar, Jay Trikakis on drums and Jeff Williams on keys. They eventually changed their name to The Press Project and set to work recording an LP.

Recorded at Waterway Studios in Dover, “Get Right” showcases the unique voices of seven musicians with varying musical backgrounds. Producer Andrew Gallagher was tasked with capturing the spirit of a band known for its energized live performances on a studio recording. It was not an easy undertaking. In addition to scheduling recording time when all seven members could escape from their day jobs and gather in Dover, Gallagher had to contend with a number of musical visions that did not always run on parallel paths.

Asked what challenges the band faced while recording the CD, Capobianchi offered a one-word answer: “Life.”

The finished product demonstrates the evolution of a band with far-reaching roots. Dozet’s guitar playing and guest keyboardist Dan Shure’s keyboarding pepper each tune with jazz and rock elements, while bassist Nicole and drummer Trikakis offer continuous funky embellishments. Meanwhile, the three MCs sputter a dazzling stream of lyrics, many of which grew out of the open mike improvisations of their college days.

The combined effect offers both a throwback to the funk and soul music of the 1970s and a fresh, contemporary hip-hop strain. Occasional hints of Latin jazz can be detected in the keyboard notes, while the vocals often reek of old school rhythm and blues. As a result, Press Project crowds often include teenagers and middle-aged folks in near equal numbers.

“I found that right off the bat,” Capobianchi said. “A lot of older people were into it, and they weren’t turned off.” Although many adults in their 40s and 50s tend to avoid hip-hop, they have found The Press Project’s style accessible. “I think that does come from the fact that there are all those different blends of music in there,” he said.

Also contributing to the band’s pervasive appeal is its positive, inoffensive lyrics. While the CD does feature some of the boastful lyricism that has become part of the hip-hop tradition (yes, the boys do set aside time to repeatedly spell out their name: P-R-E-double S), most of the lyrics are thoughtful, introspective, meaningful and, often, political.

Capobianchi said he enjoys playing with the semantics of words and the syntax of sentences, uttering fast-paced rhymes that are stimulating to the ear and mind.

“For me personally, I try, to the best of my ability, to not say anything useless,” he said. “That’s difficult at times, but, when it comes down to it, I always like to make sure that what I’m saying has as close to a positive effect as possible.”

The members of The Press Project have already performed with some of their favorite artists, developed a local following and released an album. What lies ahead remains largely up in the air. Capobianchi said the group hopes to tour and shop around the new CD before returning to the studio with new material. But part of The Press Project’s style is to take things as they come. “We’re headed wherever the heck we can get,” said Cap.

For more information or to purchase the CD, visit www.thepressproject.com.